Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Braintree, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF), Braintree, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,947 miles (or 12,789 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between RAF Mount Pleasant and MDPGA Wethersfield, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between RAF Mount Pleasant and MDPGA Wethersfield. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• Flights of Phantoms were rotated through the airfield until 1992 when they were replaced with Tornado F3s.
• On 2 April 2012, an Uruguayan air company, Air Class Líneas Aéreas, gained permission from the Uruguayan Ministry of Defence to start a commercial flight to the Falkland Islands.
• The furthest airport from RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Mohe Gulian Airport (OHE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Mount Pleasant (meaning RAF Mount Pleasant is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mohe Gulian Airport), and is located 12,353 miles (19,879 kilometers) away in Mohe, Heilongjiang, China.
• 33 Engineer Regiment provides constant support and is part of the Joint Service Falkland Islands Detachment which consists of RAF and RLC EOD teams.

Facts about MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF):

• In 1978 the British and American Governments agreed to establish a Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers unit in the UK.
• Because of MDPGA Wethersfield's relatively low elevation of 322 feet, planes can take off or land at MDPGA Wethersfield at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• In addition to being known as "MDPGA Wethersfield", another name for WXF is "RAF Wethersfield".
• Soon after the Americans departed for France, Wethersfield was returned to RAF control, becoming the home for 196 and 299 Squadrons, 38 Group, RAF Bomber Command.
• MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF) has 3 runways.
• The 20th Fighter Bomber Wing established an operational detachment at Wheelus AB, Libya, in February 1958.
• Gardiner Associates, a fire investigation training provider, began providing residential fire investigation training courses for police, fire and forensic science practitioners at MDP Wethersfield in 2000.
• The furthest airport from MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,856 miles (19,080 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• MDPGA Wethersfield is a Ministry of Defence facility in Essex, England, located north of the village of Wethersfield, about 6 mi north-west of the town of Braintree.
• The closest airport to MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF) is London Stansted Airport (STN), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) WSW of WXF.